Human Empire: Babylon V (TRAILER)
by TheSealer
Summary: Book 3 of 3. Sequel to the Tale of two Empires. The events that came after, the dawn of a new age and the pain inflicted to survive it.
1. Trailer

**HUMAN EMPIRE**

**Babylon V**

The trailer of the sequel, Book 3, is here. The franchise **Human Empire** is split into three parts. This trailer is about the new Empire and the beloved cast dealing with their lives as the Shadows prepare to move. If there is an **Earth-Minbari war**, it will be later. Perhaps on second season.

**Babylon V** (pronounced Babylon 5) is the name of planet now inhabited by the Human Faiths, serving as a secret meeting place for the Rangers, Orieni and the Humans serving the Vorlons. The text in italic is the narrating. Please comment on this; ideas and suggestions are always welcomed.

* * *

**1****st**** January 2258****.**

It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. It all began with two empires likewise born from pain. Two empires that strived for a better future, bathing their path in blood. They united to prepare for the dark years ahead, believing the chance for survival was assured.

They were wrong.

Jeffrey Sinclair: _Who am I? What do I want? Those are curious questions. What I want is to know who I am._

John Sheridan: _Who am I?_ _I am death incarnate. What do I want? I want to what death wants; to see the dead outnumber the living. To keep killing until there's no one else to kill._

Delenn:_ There are beings in the Universe billions of years old than any of our races. Once, long ago, they walked among the stars like giants. But between these elder species and our younger species, another generation blossomed. They are called the Middleborns._

Six young major races will have to rise together, or fall divided. The galaxy is shrouded in the darkness of death and the light of destruction.

Kosh: _Clean hands of the many must join as one._

Morden:_ Who are you?_

Akurio: _Chaos and Order go hand in hand. We deliver chaos. They preserve the order._

Vir Cotto:_ What do you want?_

In a distant, seemingly insignificant planet, our last, best hope for survival is nurtured – Babylon V.

Lennier: _I curse you, Sheridan Soulkiller!_

Michael Garibaldi: _My dad fought for the Empire and they never gave a damn when he broke down. Why should I care about them in return? We fight._

Stephen Franklin: _I am a scientist sworn to serve the Empire. I am here not to save lives, but to destroy enemy lives. And that is final._

**Human Empire: Babylon V** coming soon!


	2. Cutscenes

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Valen fell on his knees, dragging himself feebly like an infant who hadn't learn how to walk yet. Lennier paced calmly behind him. They were quite the opposite figures: Valen on all fours with his torn and burnt robes and Lennir walking proudly with his pristine warrior caste uniform.

"How can you be our leader when you don't even know who you are?" – the one standing asked passionlessly. – "You only understand what you want."

"Lennier…all I ever wanted…was the survival of our race." – Valen responded bitter and hoarsely – "You have to see why I had to betray you."

"You did not betray me." – Lennier took out his pistol and pointed at the elder Minbari. – "You betrayed yourself."

"Wait, no!" – Valen begged. – "Minbari do not kill Minbari."

"Yes, but how can you be Minbari when you don't even know who you are?" – and he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Tuzanor, the City of Sorrows, was now the City of Ruins. The proudest metropolis of the Minbari Federation and symbol of all Minbari culture laid in rubbles and debris. Dead Minbari bodies scattered everywhere, either burnt, or broken in pieces, or impaled. This was a similar image on the rest of the homeworld. An entire planet with previously billions of inhabitants was a ghost world now. Children, teenagers, adults and elders alike all lay dead and silent.

All but one.

A bruised Delenn walked feebly, crying silently in unimaginable grief. She fell on her knees, taking her hands to her eyes. She would see no more! No more of the nightmarish horror, the unspeakable tragedy that befell her beloved world!

The sound of footsteps broke the silence but Delenn, too wrapped in her pain, took no notice. Only the words that followed finally captured her ears:

"Dry your tears, little star." – that voice, one she hadn't heard in so many years and was sure she would never hear again. There stood her father, Ravenn, as the last time she saw him. Old, but still standing and grim.

"Father…" – Delenn attempted to stand. – "what happened?"

"Unfortunately, Delenn" – Ravenn spoke with an echoing voice, like talking from another mountain. Another time. – "the Age of Ruins is here. Hatred has triumphed. The Younger races are divided, warring and destroying each other."

"You mean, is this the end of everything? Have the Shadows won? Has Sheridan Soulkiller triumphed, father?"

"Yes and no, Delenn." – he shook his head sadly. – "The Shadows declared victory after the galaxy was thrown into chaos and retreated to the Rim. Sheridan Soulkiller is still waging war in the name of his race. But neither are responsible for the destruction you see here, nor on many other worlds. When the Alliance of Light was destroyed, a Minbari of the Religious Caste re-organized our people and made war against those who tried to destroy us. She managed to save our race from destruction, but the price of victory was the life of many other races and Minbar itself. Since them she singlehandedly rules the Minbari race on our new homeworld."

"One of our caste rules all our race?" – Delenn was at loss of words. – "Who is it?"

"Look Delenn." – Ravenn's figure started to change. It transformed into a female Minbari sitting in a throne. – "Look what may be your destiny."

It was Delenn herself!

There she was, looking older, with a scar on her cheek and a piece of her bone crest missing. The older Delenn gazed into the younger one with an icy, unsympathetic look.

"No, Valen's name, no! Not I!"

The older Delenn changed again, this time into Valen.

"You are the One Who Is. You are what shapes the present. And in doing so, you have some power in molding the future." – Valen spoke with the same echoing, distant voice.

"If the Alliance of Light breaks, the Vorlons and the Anla'shok will give victory and power. But you'll reign over a dark Minbari Federation, surrounded by the bones and ruins of those you had to slaughter in order to survive. You and our race will lose our souls and everything we ever held dear, for the sake of avoiding extinction."

* * *

It was quite a sight of individuals gathered, one of each species. Tal-kona'sha, Ru'haru, Ralgan, J/Lai, Belani, Drakh and Cybertronian. The last surviving races of the Middleborns.

"Gathered comrades, who are we and what do we want?" – Optimus Prime asked but no one answered. Not that they didn't exactly have an answer, but all knew the Cybertronian wasn't done. – "In an age long past, Vorlons and Shadows came to our worlds with those questions. They taught us, nurtured us, made us strong."

"And now they seek to wreak annihilation onto our youngest siblings."

"Ah!" – Roskvarl of the Ru'harus sneered. – "Those simple-minded Humans think they're the ones ruling the galaxy and beating everyone on their path. If only they knew they're no more than paws, just like the Minbari and all the others."

The galaxy of the present day was destroyed for all intents and purposes. Promising races, both followers of the Shadows' and Vorlons' ideals , had been ruined because of the conflict of ideology.

"Maybe I have been around Humans too much." – Set-suma of the Tal-kona'sha shrugged. – "But I say it's high we teach those two deadbeat parents what happens when children grow enough of a backbone to talk back."

"Not just for us, or for the Younger races." – Er/namar of the J/Lai spoke softly. – "But also for all we have lost. For the Cetans."

"For the Quin" – Millena of the Bellani sighed.

"For the Na'Quin." – Omnami of the Ralgans agreed.

"For the Vorz." – Kara'dacu of the Drakh grunted.

"For the Vindrizi." - Set-suma finished.

"We all stand in agreement, but I must ask you something, Optimus." – Millena turned to the Cybertronian. – "While I agree with you that the galaxy as seen more than enough genocide for a thousand million years, the Humans are also partially to blame for this. They deserve severe punishment, but not extinction. Where do you stand on this?"

Optimus gazed into her for a full minute before engulfing everyone else with his gaze:

"Over two centuries ago, I have sworn to never kill Humans."

"Big mistake." – Kara'dacu muttered under his breath.

"But when I find John Sheridan," – his deep voice gained a deadly tone for just one second. - "he's going to die."

He didn't give a direct answer to Millena's question and she didn't expect him to do it now. Optimus Prime turned again to his fellow aliens and proclaimed:

"The Vorlons and the Shadows wanted us to answer their questions. We shall oblige them now." – the last Prime raised his sword, which immediately was set aflame. – "We are the Middleborns! And we want the First Ones to get out of our galaxy!"


	3. Cutscene 2

**IMPORTANT WARNING!:** Do NOT review this chapter with your actual accounts. This is just a cutscene and will be taken out when the real story begins. To review this please use a guest account or send it in a PM.

I based this on the book **Technomage 3 – Invoking Darkness** by **Jeanne Cavelos**. It happens when **Sheridan** goes to **Z'ha'dum**, but **Galen** was also there.

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**In the depths of Z'ha'dum...**

Megatron shook his head, trying in vain to wipe out the dark whispers in his mind. The whispers uttered by the Eye.

_Chaos is the way to strength._

_Chaos is the engine powering life._

_Chaos finds its fullest expression in times of war._

_In war all are put to the test._

_In war those unfit are exterminated._

_Only in bloodshed can true progress be made, can promise be realized._

The Shadows were minuscule compared to him, yet they could still carry his titanic paralyzed body in mid-air. The webs of technorganic matter grew denser and they approached the heart of the continent-sized machine: the Eye of Z'ha'dum.

The whispers grew louder and Megatron began to see old memories: his first times as a slave miner, then a gladiator, then a revolutionary, then a warlord, then a tool of Unicron, and finally an exile, an outcast, a…shadow.

The heart of the Eye, the cocoon of dark web, began to open slowly. Its tendrils moved aside delicately and a small figure stumbled out. Ignoring the whispers and flashbacks temporarily, Megatron was surprised to find a small, organic being he actually recognized. The creature was a female humanoid but with great wings attached to her arms.

"Taratimude…" – he sighed. During his time as leader of the Decepticons, Megatron had stumbled upon that young race in his lone journey, a thousand Earth years ago. Nowadays they were a dead species, wiped out by their own hand. This might be the last member of her species!

"At last you have come." – the female Taratimude said shakily. She was old by her races standards, very, very old. – "I have waited for you, Megatron."

As if allowing them to have a conversation, the Eye subsided his influence on Megatron. This allowed the Cybertronian to speak in a more unstrained tone. The two Shadows holding him observed quietly without interfering.

"For what?" – he asked.

"For you must take my place." – as if commanded by her response, the tendrils began to move again. This time wrapping around him.

"Never!" – the titan struggled for freedom but he couldn't move nor transform. The whispers and flashbacks came back with a vengeance.

He saw himself threatening the High Council with war. _Chaos is the way to strength._

He saw himself leading the first attack that conquered the first city of his homeworld. _In war all are put to the test._

He saw himself slaughtering an Autobot, giving orders to unleash a biological plague. _In war those unfit are exterminated_.

In the back of his mind, Megatron felt an old part of him re-emerging. It was something he thought that was gone forever. It was the old warlord that had seemingly disappeared when he was set free from Unicron. It was re-surfing, aroused by the dark melody of the Shadows. The Eye wanted that old Megatron to return.

"No! I will never serve anyone who seeks to spread my legacy!"

"You cannot fight it…cannot avoid…cannot destroy it." – the Taratimude woman whispered, showing her wrinkled alien face to him. – "I have tried…for a thousand years."

Once again, the Eye left him partially in peace to talk.

"Who are…"

"Don't ask that. They don't like that question." – the woman spoke with as much urgency as her dying voice allowed. – "My name…is Wierden, the original technomage… and the last of the Taratimude race."

"Tell me how to destroy the Eye."

"You can't. It's impossible. I have tried…for a thousand years." – Wierden repeated. – "I was betrayed by my own and caught, captured, brought to Z'ha'dum. They still saw I had potential of a war leader, so they chose to make me part of the Eye. When I realized what they meant to do with me, I no longer tried to escape. I believed that I could take control of their great machine, and either destroy it or use it to protect my order. That was my mistake."

"The machine is too strong. It is programmed with such powerful desires – conflict, chaos, cruelty, destruction, victory – that it cannot be resisted. I struggled to control it, as I controlled my tech, but the Eye is not designed that way; it does not allow domination."

"It does require the strong will, consciousness, mental discipline of a sentient being. But the will of the nexus is directed toward the ends of the Shadows. I fought it. I tried to prevent myself from allowing the Shadow signals through me. I could not. I was lost within it, a mechanism for coordination and processing at its center. Within a few minutes of joining with the Eye, I could no longer even form the thought to fight it. I wanted only to do the Shadows' bidding, to run the machine. The programming controlled me."

Megatron was now completely wrapped in the black tendrils as they began to pull him in. The whispers and flashbacks returned for round three and stronger than ever. However, the flashbacks became less and less prominent as the whispers began to sound gradually more like orders.

"The machine has extended my life as long as possible. But finally, my body has failed, and I will have my freedom, short as it is. Now your bondage must begin."

As Megatron's will itself began to slip away, he felt a small but growing desire to join with the Eye. To become a simple but crucial part of the machine. To foment the chaos, destruction and carnage the Shadows live to sow.

But then the other part of him, the one that still held the majority of his being, roared:

"MEGATRON IS COMMANDED BY NO ONE!"

"I told you, Megatron." – the titan opened his optics to see blackness all around him. Save for the Shadow in front of him that had spoken. The Shadow's began to twist and change until it reformed itself into Vir Cotto. The Centauri gave his trademark smile. – "Chaos is your nature since you were born. It's your calling."

"NO!"

Vir Cotto twisted again and changed into Optimus.

"War and destruction is all you have to give to the Universe. This is where you belong. The Shadows have prepared the Eye for you for a time longer than you can imagine."

Optimus shape-shifted into John Sheridan.

"Tik, tok, Megatron. I told you the time for your reckoning would come."

John Sheridan changed into Unicron.

"You're too weak to resist, nothing more than a tool of chaos. That's what you have always been and will always be. There's no use fighting; just let go. Let yourself drown into the darkness and let go."

"Let go."

"Let go."

"Let go!"

The voices of Cotto, Sheridan, Optimus and Unicron spoke as one. Wierden was right; Megatron couldn't fight it. He felt like falling asleep. Drowning into the darkness. Like dying…

No, not like dying…because he never felt so alive!

His mind expanded exponentially like a supernova, his vision encompassing hidden fleet of Shadow vessels and other devices protecting Z'ha'dum. Then it reached further beyond in every direction.

Megatron could hear the organic weapons, the communication outpost, the hidden laboratories of the Drakh. Every ship of the Shadow armada scattered throughout the galaxy. Every warrior of the legions of Soldiers of Darkness. They all asked for his coordination.

All the Shadows' systems and servants were dependent on Megatron now, and as they turned to him for guidance, the pressure of that Shadow tech fell upon him, filling his body with a great, irresistible up rush of heat. The Eye showed him what he must do, aroused him with dark desires and the beauty of the Shadow principles:

_Chaos through warfare._

_Evolution through bloodshed._

_Perfection through victory._

Megatron understood now. He must use the Eye to spread chaos so that potential could be released, promise realized. He must kill all who could be killed, because they were not fit to survive. He must fight, must destroy, must win. For the greatest joy was the ecstasy of victory.


End file.
